Nagpur: In a major crackdown on illegal betting, the Nagpur Crime Branch Unit 3 busted a cricket betting racket operating during the T20 World Cup 2026 match between India and New Zealand in the Mankapur police station area.

Acting on specific information, a team of Crime Branch Unit 3 officials conducted a raid between 9:20 pm on March 8 and 12:20 am on March 9 at a house in Thakre Layout, Geeta Nagar near Fars Chowk. The police found the accused running a betting operation from the upper floor of a residence belonging to Sharma.

During the raid, police caught two accused red-handed while allegedly accepting bets from customers through mobile phones. The arrested accused have been identified as Chaitanyakumar Gangaram Thakre (55), a resident of Khapri Mohalla near Itwari Post Office, and Purushottam Dashrath Sonkusare (53), a resident of Plot No. 100, Anmol Nagar, Wathoda.

Police seized one television set, 10 mobile phones of different companies and other electronic equipment, collectively valued at ₹1,38,220.

During interrogation, the accused reportedly revealed that they were running the betting operation with the help of their associates Sanju Ramtekekar, Hemraj Namdeorao Kohad (both residents of Shrikrishna Nagar, Nandanvan), and Avinash Khadke (resident of Lalganj, Chakna Chowk, Nagpur), who are currently wanted in the case.

A case has been registered against the accused at Mankapur Police Station under Sections 4 and 5 of the Maharashtra Gambling Act, and further investigation is underway.

The raid was executed by PI Mahesh Sagde, PSI Amit Deshmukh, Santosh Singh Thakur, Ajay Patil, Anup Taiwade, Vivek Bhoyar, Rohit Kale, Manish Ramteke and Pramod Deshbhratar.

The operation was carried out under the guidance of Nagpur Police Commissioner Ravinder Kumar Singal, Joint Commissioner Navinchandra Reddy, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) Vasant Pardeshi, DCP (Detection) Rahul Maknikar, and ACP (Crime Branch) Abhijit Patil.